ESD Flooring Grounding Recommendations

Make
no mistake! To achieve the electrical
specifications for the ESD Flooring Materials you have
selected your floor must be grounded. Proper grounding
techniques are important in even the most basic of environments,
and critical in explosive, ordinance and munitions
environments. Every installation
is different! We generally supply (at
no charge with your flooring order) a quantity of grounding
hardware appropriate for basic grounding in non-critical
standard environments. Further, the quantity of grounding
hardware we provide is for use with installations utilizing
one of our conductive adhesive floor bonding mechanisms
applied to concrete substrates. Using more (or less)
grounding locations and hardware will allow you to "fine
tune" your conductivity (if required). Conditions
such as highly insulative substrates (wood, carpet, etc)
that you wish to cover with your new ESD Flooring or
environments encountering extreme sensitivity to ESD "events" (hard
drive manufacturing, raw sensitive electronic component
handling, explosive, munitions etc) may require increasing
your grounding hardware requirements. Clients are urged
to evaluate their conditions and environment and contact
us as needed if additional grounding may be required.
Sections One and Two of this Document encompass the use
of two types of standard grounding hardware provided
by Ground Zero Electrostatics. While Drawings and Overviews
in Section Three provide information on the quantity
of grounding required for the following environments.

OVERVIEW

ESD Carpeting and Vinyl Flooring
(marketed under the trade names of X-O
Stat ESD Carpet, ZeroStat
ESD Carpet, Azo-Stat
ESD Carpet, PolyStat
ESD Tile, ZeroStat
ESD Tile, UltraStat
ESD Tile and Euro-Stat
ESD Tile) must be grounded to provide reliable elimination
of electrostatic potential. These instructions are designed
to provide a comprehensive overview for the majority of environments
utilizing our static dissipative and conductive flooring
materials. Our ESD Flooring materials are designed to work
in conjunction with either our liquid conductive adhesive
(GZ C-2000) or our
unique releasable adhesive "Tape" (URAS).
All adhesives provide reliable anchoring of the flooring,
as well as a conductive media allowing equalization of electrostatic
potential for subsequent elimination via ground mechanism(s).
Two Types of grounding mechanisms are available from Ground
Zero. Grounding suggestions for all types of adhesives and
GZ Grounding mechanisms are similar, however the quantity
of grounding hardware and connections are increased for Advanced
and Critical applications see Section Three).

Goal: To provide
a reliable mechanical connection from your ESD flooring and
adhesive to a dependable earthed electrical ground in your
building.

Section One of Three

INSTALLATION AND USAGE OF FLOOR GROUNDING PLATES:

USGZ ESD Floor Grounding Plates
(PN: SP-GNDPLT-ASM) are manufactured in a 2.625 wide X 3.625
heavy gage stainless steel. These devices
are supplied complete with a conductive adhesive backing
and heavy gage test lead wiring terminated with a #10 ring
terminal. The plates are designed to be placed on top of
ESD flooring materials and attached to flooring by removing
the adhesive liner (on the underside of the plates) and pressing
firmly in place. The attachment of ground terminal wire (#10
ring terminal eyelet) to center screw of AC electrical face
plate cover is compliant with most state and local codes
and provides a good mechanical connection of flooring to
the electrical grounding system of your building (see figure
1). If your grounding requirements mandate a "attachment
to AC Electrical Ground" we recommend utilizing a local
electrician to ground terminal wires. In Basic environments,
these plates may be used without a copper (or brass)
foil underlayment, however best results are generally obtained
by placing a small 3' long piece of copper (or brass) onto
the substrate edge and up a wall (by a wall outlet preferably) prior to
applying the adhesive. The foil is subsequently folded over
the top of the flooring (for about 2") and covered with
a grounded plate. The Plates should always be used in
conjunction with the a more extensive foil grounding
tape underlayment when installing in Advanced or Critical
Environments or when applying static dissipative or conductive
materials on top of highly insulative surfaces such as wood
or carpeted substrates. When used with copper foil
grounding tape, the function of the plate is to provide a
mechanically reliable attachment of copper foil flooring
underlayment grid to ground. Simply fold terminated copper
foil strip over the top of the flooring (trim if necessary
to a length of about 2 inches), remove adhesive liner from
plate, place plate over foil "tab," press firmly
in place and ground. Further details for recommended usage
of foil grid tape can be found in section Two with appropriate
diagrams listed in Section Three.

This .500 wide X 108 foot long
Copper (or Brass) foil, adhesive backed tape is supplied
in roll form (PN: TP-7521) and is extremely useful for pre-placing
a grid or ground strap beneath your ESD flooring material.
The function of the tape is to provide a strap, pattern or
grid underlayment beneath the ESD floor prior to covering
with the appropriate conductive adhesive. The foil is subsequently
attached to multiple permanently grounded objects (such as
water pipes, building superstructures, metal beams, building
electrical conduit systems, etc). To apply, sweep substrate
to remove loose dust and abrasives. Using the diagrams below
decide on the appropriate quantity for your environment (please
contact our Engineering Dept if you have any questions).
Remove the adhesive liner (backing) from the Foil and press
firmly in place on substrate. Gently pull tape as you unroll
(to keep from puckering), smooth the tape in place with foot
or towel. The tape may be attached to ground by simply (with
liner removed), running the tape up (or on) the permanently
grounded object. More secure mechanical connections may be
achieved by using the tape in conjunction with our USGZ ESD
Floor Grounding Plates listed in Section One.